Microsoft Chairman Says Company Must Focus Under Nadella

John Thompson, chairman of Microsoft Corp., center, speaks, as Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., left, and Steve Ballmer, former chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., listen at Microsoft's Studio D building in Seattle, Washington, U.S., in a handout photo made available to the media on Feb. 4, 2014. Source: Microsoft Corp. via Bloomberg

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. Chairman John
Thompson, who led the recent search for a new chief executive
officer that resulted in the appointment of Satya Nadella, said
the challenge facing the software maker is how to direct the
company’s ample resources in the right direction.

“The issue for us is, quite frankly, about focus,”
Thompson said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “One
of the reasons we chose Satya Nadella is he has a strong
technology background. He understands exactly what needs to
happen to move Microsoft forward.”

Thompson, who has been a Microsoft board member since 2012,
replaced co-founder Bill Gates as chairman earlier this month at
the same time that Nadella was named CEO to succeed Steve
Ballmer. The appointments amounted to a changing of the guard at
the Redmond, Washington-based company, which is the world’s
largest software maker. Ballmer and Gates remain on Microsoft’s
board, with Gates spending more time on company strategy.

Thompson said he never envisioned being chairman and plans
to spend much of his time mentoring Nadella, who he described as
“young and aggressive and open-minded.”

While Thompson praised Microsoft’s cloud programs like
Azure and Office 365, he said the company needs to focus “on
how we become even more relevant to consumers.” He said it will
be “interesting” to see how Nadella “augments” the devices
and services strategy that Ballmer unveiled more than a year
ago, partially to address that issue.

Thompson also said not to expect a strategy discussion at
the company’s regular March board meeting, Nadella’s first as
CEO. Still, Nadella will update the board on his strategy in the
“not-to-distant-future,” Thompson said.

Thompson serves as CEO of Virtual Instruments Inc., a San
Jose, California-based maker of software that tracks application
and hardware performance. The company had anticipated going
public this year, he said, and while such a step is possible in
the second half, it will more likely take place in the first six
months of 2015.